School of Medicine news

Innerweave: The Wholeness Story

Wil Alexander, PhD

At farewell time on a teaching mission to an Army hospital at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, my gracious host Colonel Loree Sutton, a former student of mine in the School of Medicine at LLU, at present the commanding officer of the hospital, gave me a wee book titled A Guide Book for Grown-ups. This is a book with quotes from the writings of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the well known author of the classic The Little Prince. From my new book, here are some quotes for your growing upness:

“All of us have had the experience of a sudden joy that came when nothing in the world had forewarned us of its coming—a joy so thrilling that if it was born of misery we remembered even the misery with tenderness.”

“I need to put up with two or three caterpillars if I want to get to know the butterflies.”

“I was wrong to grow older. Pity. I was so happy as a child.”

“Happiness! It is useless to seek it elsewhere than in this warmth of human relations…. Only a comrade can grasp us by the hand and haul us free.”

“If I summon up those memories that have left with me an enduring savor, if I draw up the balance sheet of the hours in my life that have truly counted, surely I find only those that no wealth could have procured me.”

“Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak.”

“The tender friendships one gives up on parting leave their bite on the heart, but also a curious feeling of a treasure somewhere buried.”

Yours for meditative moments!

By Wil Alexander, PhD Professor of family medicine, School of Medicine